Tears and Tragedy and Gingerbread Disasters

Before the collapse(s)

 In past years, I have had notable and satisfying success with the manufacture of gingerbread houses. I blame last year's success for this year's failure. Last year was the first year I baked my own gingerbread to make a house. I researched meticulously, looking up different types of icing for glue and the best templates. I measured and crafted and sent the Zeds out of the room for the delicate building of the house but it all went without a hitch. It was wonderful.





Also before the collapse(s).

I used the same recipe as for our gingerbread menagerie and previous houses but only baked for 10 minutes instead of 12. I think this was my first error, apart from the lack of meticulous planning. I also broke one of the roof pieces when it came out of the oven. That should have been my first warning that all was not going to be sweet as roses in our construction project but, alas, I ignored this warning as we still had spare dough at this point to cut out another roof piece. I may even have been a little proud at the rescue of this disaster.  However, despite sending the small people from the room for the construction, things were not going to plan. Perhaps the icing, also used last year, was too stiff or my patience was too thin but the house collapsed. A bit broke. I assured Z1 that this one could be Z2's as he was mainly interested in all the candy for sticking anyway. I valiantly struggled on in the face of this adversity and succeeded in making 2 passable small houses (oh yes, I decided to do miniature ones this year so the Zeds could have one each) which were standing pre-decoration. However, not long into the decorating, they both collapsed. Z1 was distraught. She took herself upstairs in floods of tears with a soliloquy regarding the tragedy that could be heard downstairs. I fixed it as best I could and it still looked ok...until the next collapse.

We had to admit defeat. Z1 was quite brave at this point, perhaps all her tears were spent, but she did have the consolation of some cookies we had cut out from spare dough which she decorated. My plans were dashed but I did manage not to cry. It was close. We had even made extra trees and gingerbread men to stand around the magnificent dwellings we had envisaged. There are no further photos due to the trauma involved. My frustration and anger from the day turned, the next day, into a gentle melancholy for the houses that were not to be.

We will be ok. We will attempt these again some day but with more planning and care and templates.



Advent calendar 2014: toilet rolls and Junior Mints

Blueprint for Advent calendar 2013

Last year, I had such plans for an Advent calendar but the Zeds were not on board. This year, in keeping with my transformation into one of those people, I began collecting toilet rolls the moment Z1 showed any inkling of interest in making our own countdown to Christmas calendar.



We had a busy weekend, that last weekend of November which had been designated as our Christmas decorating weekend what with December beginning on Monday. Saturday involved a birthday party and a car breakdown and fireworks in Nathan Phillips Square. Sunday was to be the day of the decorations.

Toilet rolls attached, tin foil
and tape used abundantly

 Z1 was on cutting-up-toilet-rolls duty. I was rather more severe than necessary with her when she cut a couple of toilet roll segments too narrow to be able to hold sweets. I then pulled myself together and we headed off to our beloved Dollarama to buy the sweets for fillings. It was a glorious no-coat-in-November day. We used Hershey's kisses before but neither of the Zeds really seemed to like them. I don't blame them, it is not good chocolate.  This year, Z1 chose Junior Mints and Z2 got some fruit jellies.

Compartments filled with jellies

The finished product - ta da!

Z2 was not an active participant in this project. Z1 drew some little pictures in each compartment and the star on top and presents under the tree. She lovingly filled each hole with a mint and a jelly each...until disaster struck. She tried a mint and discovered she didn't like them. Thankfully, we had plenty of jellies so I ate all the mints and replaced them with jellies in the compartments.

After the Zeds were asleep in bed and the mints were eaten, I settled down with a Sharpie and the roll of tin foil to be used to cover each compartment. It was a bit tedious and I was a bit sloppy with it, truth be known but know this too: I was careful in mixing up the numbers so each day will be a hunt. This is in contrast to the fate of some of the poor, unfortunate people with Cadbury's calendars who have been using #adventcalendarproblems on Twitter over the last few days*.


*If you can't find it or don't bother clicking, people were complaining that all the numbers on their Cadbury's calendars are in order ruining the fun of having to track the day's number down each day.

Gingerbread Menagerie

This weekend marked the official start of Toronto's Christmas - lights were switched on at Yonge-Dundas, the Santa parade was on and it even snowed. There is more to come, of course as my email inbox will get fuller of increasingly frenzied messages from various companies telling me about amazing bargains and I begin to unsubscribe from the ones that make me swear the most when I see them. That's how I handle my marketing subscriptions, when I begin to swear at more emails than I open, it's time to get unsubscribing.

I had considered bringing the Zeds along to the switching on of the lights but really, an outing into the dark and cold at their bedtime is not the wisest move. This will not stop me wondering if we should go along to the impressively named Cavalcade of Lights in two weeks time although I believe Z2 has a birthday party to attend that day.

So, none of that was particularly crafty but, as you see in the photo, we were fierce productive this weekend. I took a notion, after successful baking for the school cake sale using this fragrant recipe, which I also used last year, that I should make gingerbread with the Zeds. The recipe is very satisfying, because you stir things up in a bubbly, fragrant pot and then add baking soda which makes it go all foamy. Maybe all gingerbread recipes do this, but I had not encountered the wonder of this before and felt that the Zeds would enjoy it. With plenty of being careful and lots of not touching the hot stove, the Zeds stirred and added ingredients and it was suitably delightful and cosy. We have many, many cookie cutters and using them for something edible was so much less upsetting than the crumby mess of Play-Doh that you can't even eat.

The true triumph of the day, though, was coming home after the Santa parade and whipping up a bit of icing and some leftover sweets from Hallowe'en and letting them decorate their animals before bedtime. The owl on the bottom left is Z2's, the rest are Z1's. I particularly like her use of the sweets as suckers on the octopus's tentacles. Overall, though, she was a little too delicate in her use of icing and Z2's generous application worked a bit better. I definitely want to make more to decorate myself.

I am coming back, I think

As the nights draw in and the temperatures drop and the Christmas decorations begin to appear, I find myself drawn back here.  Also, Z1 asked about making an Advent calendar this year so last year's sad story may have a happy ending this year. In the meantime, things have been made in the Conquering Crafts household since my  last post in April. The highlights are below.

 
Like many a household across the world, there were many of these to be found in our house. And like many a parent across the world, some of them were made by me after the Zeds were in bed. And there may have been swearing at spillages and mistakes. Overall, a success, though.


Then, there was a cupcake decorating party and Z2 got in on the action too. He is more of a fan of icing than he is of cake.

Z2's icing efforts. This
photo refuses to be posted
horizontally. Grr.

Z1 got a lovely sewing kit for her birthday which we cracked open during the summer. She is keen to make mittens now, I am considering some simpler project that she might be able to wear. Possibly a very simple skirt that she could sew decorations onto if I do the skirt. Hmmm.

As Z2 is now a very big boy (as he will indignantly tell anyone who dares to say that he is a small boy), he left daycare in July. I was rather proud of the gift basket I made for the lovely staff there. I like dots. Oh yes I do.





For Z2's birthday party, making fruit kebabs was a nice way to pass the morning without constant "what time will the party be?" questions. I have seen amazing efforts on Pinterest that look like rainbows but I think ours look pretty good too. I also successfully persuaded him to ask for a cake that would fit with my "Make an ordinary chocolate cake" plans. I rather like him. (The cake, that is, not Z2. He's a spider. Clearly. Again, the cake. Z2 is human.)




 And before you know it, Hallowe'en was upon us again and we took to the pumpkins. Last year, Z2 made valiant efforts with the Dollarama tools while Z1 took the role of artistic director for her pumpkin. This year, I did buy better tools and amidst warnings about being very, very careful and frustration that it was still a tricky job,  we carved the beauties in the picture. Z1 was disappointed that hers didn't look better but it was all her own work (middle step). Z2 was artistic director for his (top step) and I was disappointed with the botched eyes on mine (bottom step).

Disappointingly, from the point of view of photos and family records, Z1 decided that she wanted to be a bat again this year and Z2 followed her lead. I did make fresh costumes but used the same tops as last year so that saved some hassle. I followed the instructions here and used a measuring tape and everything to tailor-make them. On the great day itself, it rained. Again (3rd year in a row). Z1 didn't care and declined to cover her costume. Z2 put on his fleece and didn't really get to show off the costume at all but still got a great haul of crap to enjoy for weeks to come.



The Remarkable Passage Tomb known as Newgrange and our Gingerbread House (unnamed this year)

I am posting this on the winter solstice, the 21st of December, which is marked on my Canadian calendar as "First Day of Winter". Now, Canadians, I know you know a thing or two about winter but considering the inches of snow and the temperatures that have fallen well below freezing in the past few weeks, I respectfully suggest that winter starts well before the 21st of December. Also, after the 21st of December, the days start getting longer again - it's midwinter, ok?

Note the light passes
right through the windows above
the door just like Newgrange...
sort of

The reason I am posting this on the 21st of December is the remarkable feat of engineering I unintentionally pulled off in my building of this year's gingerbread house from scratch ( for previous year's efforts, from kits, see here). This feat of engineering clearly reflects that of the ancient builders of Newgrange, where on this winter solstice day, as the sun rises at the passage tomb , it shines through a window above the entrance to the tomb and down a narrow passage right into the central chamber. As I built this year's house, my deep Celtic roots took over and, when I took the "before" photo, I saw that I had aligned the front and back windows. I am sure that if I lined it up this morning, on my kitchen table, the sun would have shone through our front door peephole, through the windows and onto the kitchen wall where a rainbow would have been projected. However, it was Saturday today so I didn't get up to check.

Bubbly, spicy, beautifully
fragrant gingerbread mix.

Due to the fact that the gingerbread in the kits I used before was barely worth eating, I decided to bake my own gingerbread this year. I have some experience of this though I had never attempted a building project before. I used this recipe after a spot of googling. What I really liked about this recipe was that I got to mix up sugar and molasses and spices in a boiling, bubbling, fragrant pot. It also meant that the dough was warm when I was kneading it and rolling it out*. The recipe says it makes 3 fair sized gingerbread houses at some point - that is rubbish, I didn't even have enough to cut out roof pieces to allow for big overhanging eaves for mine. However, I suppose "fair sized" is subjective.

Z1's side

Z1's side

Well, readers, I was rather delighted with the outcome. I was a nervous builder having read and seen pictures of gingerbread houses disastrously and tragically collapsing due to the icing glue being insufficiently gluey or too slow to dry. I warned Z2 to stay away while I was attempting construction but it was a simple, painless and successful process. We passed happy moments decorating with a system whereby I squirted on the glue (royal icing - this one, as it didn't require cream of tartar which I don't have ) and the Zeds stuck on the sweeties. I foolishly bought Tic-Tacs which don't look so well but, in my defence, I thought they would be orange, not white. I rather like the marshmallow tower that Z2 built.

Sofa cushion fort

After a while, Z2 tired of his task and went to relax in his fort. Z1

Back of the house
by Z1

stuck with it and decorated the back most magnificently as well as being responsible for the beautiful and welcoming front. The completed house is now in the process of having bits broken off for Z1's lunch box and Z2's breakfast and for me whenever I get the urge. It does taste very good and has the added bonus of making the kitchen smell nice...or at least the area around the kitchen table. A true triumph, really.

After

Before

* A drawback is that it seems to dry out quite quickly so it's really for immediate use.

A Sad Story About Advent Calendars and Rejected Toilet Roll Inners

Last year, you may recall that I got Conquering Christmas off to an eggcellent start with this Advent calendar. Around two weeks ago, I began to plan for this year's creation. I started saving toilet roll inners and calculating how to lay out 24 sections of toilet roll inners as a triangle shape to resemble a Christmas tree. This infographic shows the intricate plans that I made.

However, Z1 and Z2 saw Advent calendars in a shop and now they want them. I tried to remind Z1 how much fun we had making last year's but to no avail.


Giant Lindt ball with
mouse for scale

I am seriously contemplating making this one for me - 'twould be perfect for rationing out my Lindt balls from the giant Lindt ball that Husband kindly gave me for no reason at all and I could use up those toilet roll inners I've been saving.


Continuing side effects from conquering Christmas (with pipe cleaners!)

Clockwise, starting top left: kitchen drawer,
piece de resistance on the front door handle,
one on the foot of the swivel chair, one around
the leg of the (unused and in need of giving away)
highchair, chain on the tea towel rack, jingle bell
on the oven handle.

Though Z1's enthusiasm for the craft-a-day schedule leading up to Christmas waxed and waned, it has clearly left an impression. The beloved pipe cleaners, of which we had many, have now all been used up. I think pictures will speak louder than words in this instance so feast your eyes on the photos and be informed that this is just a selection of the magnificent pipe cleaner decorations that have been created, most of them on Saturday morning while I was having a lie in (Husband encourages a bit of art before telly on weekend mornings). They are adorning all manner of unexpected places downstairs.


You may also be interested to know:

• The gingerbread house came to a sad end when Z2 was trying to sneak a few jellybeans and pulled it from the counter to the floor. I encouraged both Zeds to grab what they could before I swept it up. 
• While initially reluctant to throw the egg carton advent calendar out, Z1 put it in the recycling bin when she realised that it was hard to lay the table with it still there. Hurrah for getting small children to help with chores: table laid AND glittery-torn-egg-cartons-stuck-to-a-cut-up-cereal-box disposed of willingly.

3 Post Scripts on Conquering Christmas

1. Our house smelled delightful - of gingerbread and Christmas tree - on our return from our trip to Dublin (and a very nice trip it was too).
2. Z1 set to work once she had her coat off and said "I know what our Christmas decoration for today can be" so clearly enjoyed conquering Christmas. Hurrah! (She drew a Christmas tree which I cut out for her, she threaded with a pipe cleaner and hung on the tree...which we'll take down this evening. Sigh.)
3. The Borax crystals have all fallen off the pinecone that we crystallised. I think this was 'cause of the pinecone opening up in the warmth of the house and cracking the cyrstals 'cause the other crystal decorations  are still sparkly and intact.

Happy New Year!

UPDATE - I have since noticed that this morning she also wrote (with help from The Husband) "Deck the Halls" on a piece of paper, threaded a pipe cleaner through it and hung it on the tree. This girl is on a roll. Two questions: 1. Do I keep these for next year? (Ah yeah, I think I better). 2. How long do you think she'll keep making decorations for?

Lessons Learned from Conquering Christmas

It's December the 21st and we're leaving for Ireland tomorrow. I declare Christmas conquered. 

Here is the Advent calendar, nearly all opened now.

Here is what I learned in the process:

1. I really like miniature houses, whether of paper or of gingerbread.
2. I really like snowflakes.
3. Don't put on any visual distractions (TV, YouTube) when attempting crafts with Z1.
4. Pipe cleaners are an excellent investment for a craft box.
5. I really growing crystals and seeing the finished result.
6. And, related to 5., one woman's magical/scientific crystal-making potion is another woman's poison.
7. Blogging is quite effective at stopping me mentally packing for our Dublin trip for the entire month of December - I only made a packing list on the 16th.
8. There is time to do a crafty type thing between getting home from school and getting dinner on but it's not always a good idea.

People, I am off to Dublin until the new year but I will be back. The name of the blog will change and it will be at www.conqueringcrafts.com .  Anyone eagle-eyed will have noticed that the www.conqueringchristmas.blogspot.ca address was already redirecting to the conquering crafts one - the magic of the internet did that and will continue to do so.

Have a very lovely Christmas, however you choose to celebrate it.

(Oh, and we did manage to make a Christmas card for the grandparents this evening - DONE!)

Compare and Contrast: me vs Z1 (also pipe cleaners are not perfect)

It's alway painful when the scales fall from your eyes and something or someone previously revered or treasured is revealed to have a flaw (In fact, having scales on one's eyes in the first place also sounds kind of painful.). Today was that day for me with pipe cleaners. It turns out that they don't stick to paper very well. Our cards today are still based on pipe cleaners stuck to paper - we'll see if they survive the journey into school in my bag tomorrow.

I think the best way to present today's pieces is by comparing and contrasting.

Mine

Hers

On the left, my effort. While simple, with clean lines and a tasteful level of jewelled decoration, I feel it lacks the exuberance, humour and freedom of Z1's card on the right.

Candy Canes, Bolognese and Artistic Sensibilities

Simple

Spot the difference

Sometimes I have to start something in order to get Z1's interest. It was her idea to make candy canes out of paper. She does love a good candy cane.

When I started making this, I hadn't really thought it through to the end. I rolled up the paper, bent it into shape, secured a few ends with tape, held it up to show a very unimpressed Z1 and stirred the bolognese while musing upon whether I should paint the candy cane or colour it in.

Then it hit me - inspiration: pipe cleaners to make it striped as a candy cane should be. Genius! Pipe cleaners to the rescue again. I then realised that I should have used one in the middle of the paper roll too so it would hold its shape. I didn't want to undo the tape and red pipe cleaner stripe so I poked a pipe cleaner into the curve and trimmed the edge so you can't see it. More genius improvisation.

I asked Z1 if she thought I should put a green pipe cleaner on too, in an effort to include her. I then ignored her when she said "yes", admired my candy cane and put it on the tree. She took it down and added the green later. I think it ruined the simplicity  but this was supposed to be for the children so I let it be, though it hurt my artistic soul.

I must say, it looked a lot better than I expected on the tree. I'd consider making them again.

Points to note: Hurrah - we did a craft today despite the bed-hopping last night. Also despite an excess of exposure to bodily fluids on the journey home from work and school (though, in fairness, Husband bore the brunt of the exposure).

Borax Crystal Pine Cone - result! (and failure?)

The brown bit is the pine
cone

Hurray! It worked better than I expected. I opened the jar with the greatest of ease and the aid of some hot water. The picture over there on the left is what I saw when I opened it - solid crystals with the pine cone embedded. 

Borax crystal pinecone on
the Christmas tree 

Here, on the right, is a photo of the pine cone on the tree taken using the flash. It doesn't do it justice...neither does the below photo without the flash. It's a twinkly, sparkly, possibly toxic, beautiful, crystally piece of nature.

The flat bit from where it
was against the side of the jar
(also what it looked like
without flash)

Useful information: Apparently "Borax" is no longer available in shops in the UK because of EU regulations. Borax substitute can be used for this (and the other similar projects) but yields less impressive crystals, I am told. 

Other points to note: I do feel this is kind of cheating as it was not a craft we did today and the Zeds were not involved at all. Z1 had a plan to make candy canes out of paper but we got distracted by Elfing ourselves and then it was pretty much time for bed. You may judge whether I can consider myself to have failed in my aim to conquer Christmas. I think I am going to let myself off the hook and say I have continued in the spirit of the project.

Pine Cone with Borax Crystals: Work in Progress

I am not sure that this will work very well.
The first problem was that pine cones float (I should have thought of that). I proudly and deftly solved this by putting the lid on and turning the jar upside down with the pine cone attached to string, caught in the lid, keeping it anchored.
Sadly, I think I anchored the pine cone too close to the edge of the jar so the crystals may end up more on the jar than that side of the pine cone. However, when I tried to open the jar to rectify this, I realised that the lid is probably going to be firmly attached to the jar with crystals.
Another possible problem is that the water is turning kind of brown so the crystals might be brownish or yellowy too.

On the left - floating pine cone
On the right - cleverly anchored pine cone
(too close to the side of the jar - pah!)

Sigh.

Pipe Cleaners and their Wondrousness

We do not have any pipe smokers in this house. I imagine that most houses do not, these days. I bought a load of pipe cleaners to prepare to conquer Christmas and they were a very good purchase indeed. Z1 has taken to them like nothing else. She's made several creations on her own with no help at all.
I present to you:

1. Beaded pipe cleaner bracelets which I also mentioned here. She's made a few more for other people who are important like me. But she made mine first so I am the most important. Of course.

 

2. A pipe cleaner necklace with pipe cleaner bead. The pipe cleaner bead was inspired by me not getting around to pouring her some beads to work with quickly enough. I find that being a bit too busy to help/play inspires a bit of creativity in the Zeds so I often occasionally employ this tactic to get a bit of a break and/or the washing up done stimulate and encourage their brains.

Pipe cleaner bauble

3. A pipe cleaner bauble. It certainly used a lot of pipe cleaners but I think it looks rather good, I really do. I came down this morning to discover she had made this. She has made other scrunched up pipe cleaner things that aren't really particularly useful or attractive but I like this one.




4. And finally, there were was the Christmas wind chime with jingly bells




In other news:

•  I saw Rise of the Guardians today and, oh my, what wonderful animation. Animated glitter, both good and evil!
• Someone found this site by googling "Borax crystal pine cones" and I have been inspired,
• This time next week I will be in Dublin - wippidy woppidy woooooooo hoooooo!

More Glitter. Also Bubbles.

Bubble bubble. Glittery Nails (Z1) and glittery dough
The ornaments I produced - could do better.
(Probably will do better as I have plenty left)

I mostly decided to do this because of the description of it as "super soft and pliable". It just sounded lovely. Also, the use of silver glitter to make it decorative makes it a one step craft - no waiting for it to be ready to decorate. Aaah, glitter.

My favourite bits of this were the lovely bubbles when cooking it up and kneading the glitter in (I used gold, not silver 'cause I used all the silver up in my beloved snow globe which might, truth be told, actually have too much glitter though, really, it doesn't 'cause too much glitter doesn't exist when dealing with snow globes and Christmas crafts.)

Z1 wasn't in the least bit interested though she did happily roll some into a ball while watching Toy Story 2 with be-glittered nails. Z2 was napping.


Practical information: I rolled it out on my counter but it got a bit sticky and hard to take off the counter so would probably do it on greaseproof paper or on the baking sheet when I do it again.  I also let them air dry which has only taken a few hours and they seem to be good to go.

Credit where credit is due: I found this via Pinterest at The Imagination Tree here. They found it somewhere else but since it was the "supersoft and pliable" description and their pin that drew me in, I am crediting them.

Not-Gingerbread biscuits

I made a couple of errors in preparing for our baking today:
1. I assumed we had some ground ginger
2. I let my desire to buy "fancy molasses" cloud my judgement and override the fact that, according to Google, Wikipedia and the sensible bit of my brain, it is not the same as golden syrup

Top left shows that not all our
cookie cutters produced
recognisable Christmas shapes

Still, neither of these errors detracted in any way from the enjoyment Z1 got from helping me mix or from her joy while cutting and decorating the biscuits (cookies to you, North Americans). Z2 joined in too, though I did have to tell him to stop poking quite a few times.

Z1 with her rice and sprinkles and
two of the cookies she lovingly
decorated (the one on the left
looked like a snowflake when unbaked,
the right was a gingerbread man)

It was a bit hectic trying to get dinner sorted at the same time as baking batches of biscuits and keeping an eye on the sprinkling activities. This meant that when Z1 asked if she could put some sprinkles in her rice, I just sighed and said it was fine. The coloured rice doesn't show up so well in the photo - probably 'cause she had eaten most of the food-dye-stained grains by the time she asked me to take the picture.

Downloadable from here

Of course, after the rice and sprinkles, it was time for the Zeds to try their baking. They each took one bite and discarded their respective biscuits. I like them though (the Zeds and the biscuits, just to be clear).

Credit where credit is due: My starting point for these cookies was this recipe on the BBC recipe website

A Snowglobe 24 Years in the Making

Glittery reindeer

Before I turned it over
(I should have painted
the Ragu jar lid more
thoroughly)

Could it ever have lived up to my expectations? I have been longing to make a snowglobe since I was about eight, I think. I can remember recipes where dessicated coconut was recommended as snow and one where glycerin was suggested so the snow would swirl more gently.
Today's long-awaited snowglobe was made without input from Z1 (she was too busy playing in a box and trying to remember how to write vampire) but with some advice from Z2. We had a choice of a reindeer or some snow-topped fir trees as figurines and he chose the reindeer. Just as well because he knocked the fir tree off the table a moment later and it broke.

Slightly forlorn reindeer
when the glitter stopped
swirling

I painted the lid of the jar with acrylic paint and glitter glue a few days ago to get it all ready for today.

Glittery reindeer gazing
wisely at the world

And, y'know, it's nice. It's got sparkly glitter and water and swirling, so it's definitely nice but what am I to dream of making now?
Also, I should not be trusted with superglue.



Credit where credit is due: I found this simple version of a homemade snowglobe at this blog which seems to be in Chinese via Pinterest